KWA-TA-KO

Last week I wrote about communication with the Ugandans.The fact that i am never able to shed my skin. Hand it in for a black one for a while. or my voice for that matter. Never will I be able to speak with an Ugandan accent, nor would I want to. It is bad enough to have a Dutch accent, which goes unnoticed here. Dat dan weer wel. But here I was, filming and standing with the three young men who will accompany me to the Museum tomorrow, ( For the observant reader, yes it has been a day delayed ). Francis, Julius and Godwin, and we were talking like  old friends. We were joking, organizing the event tomorrow, being supportive of each other, and learning each others language. That is  how I got to know that' Kwa-ta-ko' means Touch in Luganda.
There is something Touching about learning each others language. I was able to say : 'We-ba-le' Julius ! for carrying my heavy computer, and my bag, and offering me a drink of water. I was able to say' Gye-ba-le 'Godwin ! for making a perfectly smooth coffeecup. We were standing at the back of the college, in front of the kiln.chickens were roaming and laying eggs underneath the rusty bedsframes, which were about to be thrown out, although, that might take another couple of yearsThe clay was slowly forming under the young artists hands. I asked them to speak Luganda, and it sounded like a long and hypnotizing song. Days pass very quickly here, and when mothers bring their children to bed, they whisper Su-la-bu-lu-ngi, little one...